LOCAL people were standing up for seating as a new campaign to get chairs put back into shops and retail areas was launched at the Municipal Buildings in Crewe.

The Where Have All The Chairs Gone? scheme is a social inclusion project which follows on from a survey done by Help The Aged.

The project has surveyed the available seating within shops and retail areas and also looked at resting places such as benches on the routes to central town areas.

Lynn Everott, chairman of the Programme Action Committee of Soroptimist International, Nantwich and District, said: “The campaign has looked at the difficulty groups such as the elderly, disabled or ill have in participating in the daily living skills of shopping or visiting services because of a lack of available resting places.”

The scheme is aimed at raising awareness of the problem and getting more chairs for the use of elderly or disabled people.

The Mayor of Crewe and Nantwich, Councillor Brian Silvester said: “I am glad the “Where have all the chairs gone?” campaign has been launched locally.”

He added: “Last year a number of new seats were purchased for Nantwich as part of a series of town centre improvements. However, we need to look at the need for more seating in the borough and encourage shops to provide chairs for customers.”